Top 10 world news: Man crashes car outside Downing Street gates, stabbing in Japan, and more

The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, which has been spearheading Moscow’s fight in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, on Thursday (May 25) said his fighters have begun transferring their positions to the Russian army. In Japan, a masked man carrying what appeared to be a hunting rifle and a knife attacked at least four people in the Nagano Prefecture in central Japan. At least three people, one victim and two police officers, were killed, while police are searching for the suspect who is said to be holed up inside a building.

Finally, we also bring you updates from Pakistan political scuffle.

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World’s fourth-largest economy and Europe’s largest, Germany, has entered into recession after the country’s GDP recorded its second quarterly contraction.

The country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from January to March quarter fell by 0.3 per cent, data released by the Federal Statistical Office on Thursday showed. This was the second consecutive drop from the last quarter of 2022, which showed GDP fall of 0.5 per cent. Two consecutive quarters of decline constitute a technical recession.

A man was arrested after he drove his car into the gates outside Downing Street, police said, according to local media reports.

Reports said that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was inside the Downing Street complex when the incident took place. Whitehall —the main road running past Downing Street —has been put under lockdown by the police.

The armed officers caught the man at the scene on suspicion of criminal damage and dangerous driving. There are no reports of any injuries.

The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, which has been spearheading Moscow’s fight in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, on Thursday (May 25) said his fighters have begun transferring their positions to the Russian army.

The change was seemingly confirmed by Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar who said that Wagner fighters have been replaced by regular soldiers in the outskirts of Bakhmut.

According to local media reports, a masked man carrying what appeared to be a hunting rifle and a knife, on Thursday (May 25), attacked at least four people in the Nagano Prefecture in central Japan. At least three people, one victim and two police officers, were killed, while police are searching for the suspect who is said to be holed up inside a building.

Hours later, the NHK reported that the person escaped from the building and that some other people might still be inside.

All eyes are on the forthcoming French Open 2023 edition, which kicks off on May 28 in Paris, France. With no Rafael Nadal -- who announced his decision to withdraw from the tournament due to hip injury -- legendary star John McEnroe feels Novak Djokovic has a great chance of lifting the title at the Roland Garros.

He was preparing to launch his campaign to win the Republican Party nomination for US Presidential Election in 2024. He chose a novel platform to make the announcement, Twitter Spaces. Twitter owner Elon Musk himself was part of the stream. But what should have been quite a noteworthy announcementfrom Florida Governor Ron DeSantis turned into something that made news for the wrong reasons. The Spacecrashed repeatedly as hemade the announcement, or at least tried to. This cast a shadow on the major eventDeSantis hoped would boost his ratings.About 678,000 people tuned in to listen when the glitches andcrashes took the shine off the announcement. Musk attributed the crashes to the number of listeners and his large following on Twitter.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has now very much become part of our lives. In our imagination previously, the concept was limited to scary looking robots trying to topple humanity. But the true power of AI is on display now as it subtly becomes part of our lives and daily tech use. ChatGPT has already shown that AI can write essays, poetry, code and much much more.

More than 100 firefighters battled towering flames and dense smoke from a fire in a seven-storey building that was spreading to adjacent buildings in central Sydney on Thursday (May 25).

"The building is starting to collapse, while the inferno is beginning to spread to several neighbouring buildings, including residential apartments," Fire and Rescue NSW said in a statement, as reported by AFP.

As per the emergency services, more than 100 firemen with 20 fire trucks were "working to contain and extinguish the blaze" on Randle Street near the city's Central Station. At least one close vehicle has been destroyed by fire, they said.

Tina Turner was often known as the Queen of Rock 'n' roll and was instrumental in heralding R&B as a genre in music. But not many know that she was also a prominent practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism. Over the years, she spoke about how Buddhism had helped her steer her life and find the strength to leave her abusive relationship with her former husband Ike Turner in 1976.

In the years since then, Turner was known to recite Buddhist chants daily and made its life philosophy an integral part of her life. Many would recall her interview with Larry King on CNN in 1997 when she spoke about how Buddhism helped her cope and she had even chanted Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for the celebrity host and recited a few prayer lines.

Some 36 Iranian-made attack drones launched by Russia were downed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the country's military claimed on Thursday (May 25). Zelensky alleged that Russia was trying to 'terrorise' Ukraine.

"The enemy continued to terrorise Ukraine by launching 36 Shaheds. None reached their target," Zelensky said in a social media post.

Meanwhile, the Moscow-appointed governor in Russian-annexed Crimea said that six drones were shot down or blocked in the region. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.